Reversible belt and buckle.



Patented Dec I7, I90! r ATTORNEY No. 689,l|9.

. G. L. MERGE.

REVERSIBLE BELT-AND BUCKLE.

(Apphcat on in d Nov 24 1900) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES ATEN'T OFFICE.

GEORGE L. PIERCE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

REVERSlBLE BELT AND BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 689,1 19, dated December 17, 1 901.

Application filed November 24, 1900. Serial No. 37,562. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. PIERCE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Belts and Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

It is desirable that a belt may be worn with either face outward. Such a belt may be made of two strips of leather of contrasting appearance, for example, the contrast being effected either by color, ornamentation, or other means; but where the belt is reversible the buckle, keeper, and buckle-shield must also be reversible, as will be readily understood. To effect this reversibility is the object of the present invention, which will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a face view of a part of a belt, together with a buckle and buckle-shield, constructed according to this invention; and Fig. 1 is a view of the other extremity of said belt. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the belt, buckle, and shield, showing the latter, together with the keeper, slipped back on the belt.

Referring to the figures of the drawings, A represents a belt the faces a and a, of which contrast in appearance-that is, one face, as a, may be, for example, of the normal leather color and the other face, as a, be black.

B is the buckle, secured to the end of the belt by any known or suitable means. This means, as herein shown, is a clip 0, of sheet metal, which is folded about the hinge-bar b of the buckle and riveted to the belt. The buckle B is made reversible by providing means for shifting its tongue from one face of the buckle to the other. The tongue of the buckle is hinged on the hinge-bar b and extends out far enough to lap over and bear on the bail b of the buckle at its free end, and in order that it may be made to pass said bail and take its place on the other side or face of the buckle for reversing said tongue is made telescopic, so that it may be shortened at will, whereby its free end can pass the bail. In the drawings, b is the hinged portion of the tongue and b the outer or free end of same. This latter is tubular and the portion 1) fits and slides within it, an inclosed spring I), Fig. 2, serving .to elongate the tongue. There is a stud b in the portion b engaging a bayonet-slot b, Fig. 1, in the portion b and this serves to lock the tongue in its elongated form. The bail of the buckle may be slightly cut away on its opposite faces to form recesses for the tip of the buckletongue to rest in.

I) is the keeper, of leather or other material similar to the belt, and E is the buckleshield, which will also, usually, be of the same material as the belt-that is to say, the faces of the shield will contrast in appearance in the same manner as the belt, so that it may bereversed with the'belt and buckle, and the outer and inner faces of the flexible keeper will contrast in appearance, so that when it is turned inside out for reversing it will present the proper appearance as well as be in the proper position. A keeper and a buckle-shield are not in themselves new 5 but in the present case they are secured together, but not to the belt, and may he slipped off from the belt, turned, and slipped on again in reversing the belt. In Fig. 2 they are shown slipped back on the belt, as if'for removal.

The operation of reversing is very simple. In Figs. 1 and 1 the lighter face a of the belt is supposed to be outward as well as the lighter faces cl and e of the keeper D and shield E, respectively. To reverse the parts, the keeper, together with the shield, is slipped off. The tongue of the buckle is shifted to the opposite side of the bail. The keeper is turned so as to expose its black face d and to shift it over to the black side or face e of the shield. The keeper is now slipped onto the belt and brought into the position seen in Fig. 1; but the belt, the keeper, and the shield will then show their black or darker faces.

It will be understood, of course, that the two faces of the buckle may contrast in appearance as well as the two faces of the belt. For example, one face might be ornamental and the other plain, or one face might be gilded and the other silvered. There are many Ways of ornamenting, coloring, or finishing the faces of the parts; but these have nothing to do with the present invention, which relates to reversibility of the several parts in order that either face may be presented outward.

By belt is herein meant any strap-like part, that herein shown being designed, however, to be worn about the waist, and by buckle is meant any of the Various forms of devices for detachably securing together two parts, such as the ends of a belt.

It will be noted that in the construction herein shown the buckle is reversible as well as the belt, and the buckle is not detachable from the belt-that is to say, the buckle is not to be detached or separated from the belt in order that the latter may be reversed.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination with a belt and buckle, of a keeper D, adapted to slip freely on the belt, and a buckle-shield E, secured to said keeper and removable therewith from the belt.

2. The combination with a reversible belt, of a buckle having a non-movable bar b secured nen-removably to said belt, a tongue hinged at one end to said bar I), and means of a buckle having a non-movable bar 1) secured to said belt, and 'a telescopic tongue hinged to said bar, for the purpose specified. 4. The combination with areversible belt, of a reversible buckle having a telescopic tongue, whereby it may be varied in length, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination with a belt, and a reversible buckle non-removably secured thereto, of a keeper D, adapted to slip freely on and off from said belt, and a buckle-shield E, secured to said keeper and removable therewith from the belt, substantially as set forth. In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 22d day of November, 1900, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE L. PIERCE.

l/Vitnessesz HENRY GoNNE'rT, PETER A. Ross. 

